Every once in awhile I tend to lean towards low iron, which I have lately but it was quite low, so much so that I felt drained, tired and walking up a flight of stairs took it out of me. Not how I like to feel, but I am thankful it was not something worse. Since I had been feeling so drained and tired most of the time, when I got my blood work back and found out I needed to increase my iron, I thought it might be a good idea to jump start it with something, so I got some ferrous sulphate from behind the pharmacy counter………it was suggested I eat more greens…….interesting I thought. It did help somewhat but it also started to upset my stomach and stained my teeth, I looked like I had been eating blackberries and hadn’t brushed my teeth in a good week……..nice…….NOT!!

Needless to say I have greatly upped my intake of foods and herbs to get as much iron as possible, nettle and pau d’arco tea has been simmering on my stove, lots of beets and beet juice, sea vegetables, dandelion greens and I just found out collard greens are very high in iron as well, so if you’re thinking you might be seeing recipes with a high iron theme you are right!!!

All of us women could be eating more high iron content any time but even more so if you are experiencing any fatigue or tiredness especially around that time of the month. Here is the first on several to come!!

Beet Salad

Depending on how you cut up, chop or grate the beets, you can have this cooked or not. Of course raw has more nutritional value, I have had it both ways and both are good. I recommend grating it or chopping it into smaller pieces if you are not cooking it, otherwise you can slice or chop them. I used a mandolin type gadget for this, this one is not for sale, but is part of Salad Master which is high end cookware.

– 2 Beets grated or sliced

– 2 Green Onions finely sliced up

– 1/4 cup Parsley finely chopped

– 2 tbsp Hemp hearts

– 4 oz cold pressed Olive Oil

– 1 oz Balsamic vinegar

– juice of 1/2 Lemon

– 1 – 2 Garlic cloves minced

– pinch celtic sea Salt

Mix all together and enjoy.

This makes 2 good servings, so I decided to have some for dinner too, but I changed it up a little. I added a bed of mix greens, and dandelion greens as well, some wakame mixed in with the beet salad and some chick peas for a little more protein. Adding just grated Beets to your salads often is a good idea and colorful too!!

Here is another idea to use the Zucchini Pasta Noodles. This is great as a dish itself or a side dish for even those non vegetarians!! Be creative if you want and use other veggies too, or even let in sit for a little bit and marinate in the oil before adding to the pasta.

Veggie Seaweed Pasta

– 1 tsp Wakame dried and put into a bowl with water to plump up

I got this package in Chinatown, but most health food stores carry it as well. Here it is dried and then once it has soaked for about 5 minutes, so it doesn’t take long. This is the seaweed that comes in miso soup and has a lot of nutritional value, for instance Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, C, E, K, folate and soluble/insoluble fibre, and has among the very highest nutrient-to-calorie ratios (from a vegetarian source) of anti-inflammatory Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acid (EPA). The salty taste is not just salt but a balanced, chelated combination of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron and trace minerals.

– 1 Tomato chopped

– 1 cup Spinach chopped up

– 2 mushrooms chopped into small pieces

– 1 Green Onion thinly sliced

– 1 Red pepper chopped up into small pieces

– 1/4 cup Parsley finely chopped up

– 1 Garlic clove minced

Put all ingredients in a bowl and add approximately 4 Tbsp of Toasted Sesame Seed Oil and also cold pressed Olive Oil and mix together.

Add in the Zucchini Pasta or put on top and enjoy!!

Please feel free to leave a comment or share with a friend if you like this.

Zucchini Pasta

Short little video on how you can make Zucchini noodles instead of using store boughten pasta. The Veggie Slicer or Spiroli makes this quick and easy to do. Not only is it healthier for you, an easier way to get more veggies in your diet, quicker and easier on making dinners and cleaning up, less garbage, it’s kind of fun too!! I will post several types of sauces that are raw, vegan and healthy over the next few days, so make sure to come back and check out the recipes and leave a comment or share!!

Well ok, not completely. If you haven’t noticed I have changed from Healthy and Raw to just Life with Jodi. I wanted to be able to share more with you than just raw dishes. Sometimes it could be vegan or healthy thoughts or healthy being instead of all food.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love food, I love healthy food, creating healthy dishes, but, and I am going to be honest here, I am not 100% raw for a bit. I’m not sure if anyone really is, what I do know, for me personally, with my history of when I was younger having disordered eating, that being too restrictive does not work for me. Maybe you are considering that or are aware of that for you? Don’t get me wrong, now I believe that we all could improve our eating and or be adding in more live foods, but sometimes at what cost?
By that, I mean, if you are feeling deprived, or restricted in any way, feeling guilty about eating something that is not raw or as healthy as it could be or eating something you really hate just because it’s healthy when really you want to be eating something else……..how much fun is that not too mention what it can do to us emotionally? We all know that our body and minds are connected right? And if you’re hating every mouthful you are taking, well the body will respond and not well over time.Please don’t take that as it’s ok to eat all the potato chips or junk you want, but I am really learning for me that what may work really well for me, my body, my lifestyle may not work as well for you. but one must listen to their bodies, themselves and how they are living to be able to do what is best for them.
Some people really want or need to eat meat for example, so in that case, maybe try buying as much organic as possible and still maintain a good balance of fresh, raw live foods. Take it to the hunter’s and gather’s way of eating. Another person may love having some dairy in their diets and choose organic or raw there.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, whew, doesn’t that take the pressure off right there!!??
When we are in tune to our bodies, our thoughts and our emotions and have cleaned up the junk, you may be surprised at what your body does want……..most of the time.
So for today, let go of the restrictions, the guilt, the denial, the shame or anything else that isn’t for your best way of eating, being or living.
Be in the moment, Enjoy the day, Taste your Food and give a lot of Gratitude.

I love smoothies, they are such a great way to get good things into our bodies especially when we’re busy!! Young coconuts are a treat where I live and they have such good nutritional value in them. it’s good to mix up your smoothies for the greens, which this time I didn’t put any in but you can!!

– 1 1/2 Bananas

– 1 Mango

– 1 young Coconut – the water and the flesh

– 1 tbsp Hemp seeds

Through all ingredients in a Vitamix or blender, process till smooth, pour and enjoy. Like I said earlier you can add greens to this to if you like.

I love Greek Salad with Feta Cheese or Almond ‘Feta’ Cheese, either way it is good!!. This is another thing you can do with the left over Almond pulp from making Almond Mylk if you want to stay away from dairy or eat more raw only. Can’t wait till these veggies are more in season, but for now it’s a treat.